{"id":59705,"date":"2025-10-03T12:49:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/03\/india-needs-digital-independence-now-b-dia-and-sitara-warn-against-reliance-on-foreign-cloud\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T12:49:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T07:19:20","slug":"india-needs-digital-independence-now-b-dia-and-sitara-warn-against-reliance-on-foreign-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/03\/india-needs-digital-independence-now-b-dia-and-sitara-warn-against-reliance-on-foreign-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"India Needs Digital Independence Now: B-DIA and SITARA Warn Against Reliance on Foreign Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Panel discussion at India International Center, where BDIA and SITARA emphasized the urgent need for a Digital Atmanirbharta programme.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>New Delhi [India], October 3:<\/strong> B-DIA (Bharath Digital Infrastructure Association), a non-profit supporting Indian-origin cloud platforms, joined a discussion with SITARA (Science Indigenous Technology &amp; Advanced Research Accelerator) at the India International Center. The discussion stressed the urgent need for a Digital Atmanirbharta programme and highlighted the need for policies that support private R&amp;D and indigenous cloud services.<\/p>\n<p>Chaired by Ambassador Ashok Kantha, the discussion brought together policymakers, tech leaders, and industry experts, including Dr. Sasmit Patra, Hon\u2019ble MP; Shri Parminder Jeet Singh, Digital Affairs Expert; Shri Abhishek Bhatt, Founder &amp; Secretary General of BDIA; Rahul Takkallapally, Co-founder, BharathCloud; Shri Ashish Sonal, AI &amp; Security Specialist; Amb. Smita Purushottam, Founder of SITARA, and Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director of IIC.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion highlighted Digital Atmanirbharta as a priority for both India\u2019s economy and national security. Key points included building a strong tech ecosystem to retain talent, treating data as a strategic national asset, and promoting domestic apps, platforms, and sovereign clouds for secure data storage, AI, and public services. Experts also stressed that Foreign Trade deals should not compromise India\u2019s digital sovereignty and called for stronger self-reliance in military tech to counter external threats.<\/p>\n<p>While initiatives like DPI, Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, UPI, the National AI Mission, and the Semiconductor Mission have made progress, the next focus should be Digital Atmanirbharta, which could add US$1 trillion to the economy, create quality jobs, and strengthen national security.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIndia\u2019s cloud and data infrastructure are key to both our economy and national security. Strengthening Indian data centers, promoting homegrown cloud platforms, and supporting policies for local innovation will help India achieve true Digital Atmanirbharta while safeguarding our digital sovereignty<\/em>\u201d, said\u00a0<strong>Rahul Takkallapally, Co-founder of BharathCloud\u00a0<\/strong>and a global tech leader, participated as a panelist, sharing his expertise in cloud, data, cybersecurity, and policy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Founder of SITARA Ambassador Smita Purushottam and\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Abhishek Bhatt, Secretary General of B-DIA<\/strong><strong>\u00a0said,<\/strong>\u00a0<em>\u201cNayara-Microsoft episode was an eye opener; digital sovereignty is not a choice but a national imperative and our policies should be aligned towards creating the building blocks of our digital ecosystem \u2013 cloud, apps, cloud and platforms \u2013\u00a0\u00a0to ensure not just technological sovereignty but also National Security.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The session ended with an interactive Q&amp;A, where Dr. Patra addressed questions from the audience and panelists. The meeting concluded with a unanimous call to make Digital Industrial Policy the foundation of India\u2019s digital sovereignty, economy, and national security.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About B-DIA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bdia.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bharath Digital Infrastructure Association\u00a0<\/a>(B-DIA) was founded in July 2025 as a\u00a0<em>not-for-profit industry body and think-and-do tank, representing only Made-in-India technology companies<\/em>. It focuses on strengthening Bharat\u2019s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and advancing a trusted, sovereign technology framework aligned with the government\u2019s Digital India vision. With a startup mindset, BDIA drives policy advocacy and innovation to help Indian digital companies, especially startups, unlock their potential in emerging technologies like AI, Cloud, IoT, and Blockchain while ensuring digital sovereignty and long-term national interest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About SITARA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SITARA, the Science, Indigenous Technology &amp; Advanced Research Accelerator, is dedicated to establishing technology as the foundation of India\u2019s economic and geopolitical strength. It promotes a high-tech, R&amp;D-driven industrial policy emphasising domestic innovation, investment in local research, and a robust vocational education system based on successful international models. SITARA advocates reforms in government procurement to prioritise indigenous companies, fostering sustainable growth, strategic self-reliance, and global competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Panel discussion at India International Center, where BDIA and SITARA emphasized the urgent need for a Digital Atmanirbharta programme. New Delhi [India], October 3: B-DIA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-59705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}